Iskender Atalay
We've got a few tricks up our sleeves yet When my body wants to go Tell me will my mind and soul Live on and on forever Easy going, curious and maybe even naive are the impressions Alex sometimes leaves people with. His youth can often be mistaken for innocence and his quietness for cluelessness. He's quiet but not shy. Alex will say hello to anyone, comfortably shows affection toward friends and family and enjoys conversation for the sake of it, idle and light or deep and meaningful. Still, he's far more the type to sit back and watch others interact, observe and laugh along at the jokes someone else is telling. Wary and cautious more than passive, he'll act (react) when need be but until that point, he's content to take in the world around him. He's something of a calming presence in most situations because he doesn't cause a commotion or go out of his way to draw attention to himself. Come here boy Iskender (Alex to his friends) is what he likes to call a 'first second-generation' Turkish immigrant who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His mother's parents came to the states in the Seventies, during one of the larger influxes of white-collared, higher educated, multiple degree holding men and women from Turkey found their way to the States. His father didn't immigrate until the following decade, pursuing his own degree at UCLA (where he happened to meet Iskender's mother). With a mother who grew up in Los Angeles and a father who grew up in Istanbul, Alex and his siblings were raised in a household full of mixed cultural traditions, even if the influence was (and is) still very heavily Turkish. His mother thinks nothing of celebrating Ramadan, a secular Christmas and football (soccer) may as well be the family's official religion. His father is an engineer working for an A/E firm located mid-Wilshire in what's known as Korea Town. He's one of many project managers overseeing large commercial projects and his work sometimes takes him overseas. With a career as all-consuming as that, his mother has taken to only working as a part-time consultant (she began doing so when their first child was born and just never saw the need to go back to full-time work) as a landscape architect. Her flexibility means that Mama is able to run her home (and her children's lives) quite efficiently and effectively. It also means that when Alex was younger, she had the time to indulge him in his acting interests. As a child, he had a moderately successful acting career in the world of advertising. A series of commercial spots for Welch's (he was one of those darling children who grinned for the camera after sipping a glass of juice. "Mmmm!"), a spot for McDonald's and a lot of long-running local ads. His mother kept a tight rein on what Alex was allowed to audition for, wanting him to enjoy the process for what it was and not end up being an overworked and very pressured child. There were offers of roles in film and television that were bypassed in the name of letting Alex grow up as a normal child, modeling interests that were turned down because his mother felt that industry was no place for healthy development and while her son sometimes said he wanted to be a star, she kept her foot firmly on the ground on the matter. Where his earnings and residuals were concerned, his parents put nearly every last cent into bank for Alex's future. At sixteen, he had the money to buy a reliable car. At eighteen, he had money to pay for college. At 21, he still has the luxury of focusing on his studies and not having to worry about finances the way many of his peers do. The acting bug is still there in his system but it's mellowed. He works through a central casting agency as a background artist. He's an extra in a lot of television shows and movies that are filmed on location in L.A. or on studio lots in the area. Some day, he may actually have enough lines spoken to qualify for his SAG card. It's a tale that is common for many people in southern California and nothing he thinks of as unusual or noteworthy. The job is simply a means of quick cash, free food and simple work that he gets to do with several of his friends that happens to fit well with his university schedule. That's the ordinary picture he'll paint for you of his life, his home and his family. Good, loving, close-knit people who believe in working hard for their successes in life. A learning vessel of several lessons to make me more cleverer Begin end enemy friend heaven hell sick well Truth lies husbands and wives, whisper shout in out in out Laughter cry ask reply - good bad happy sad Right wrong outcast belong, caged free you and me You have the answer to all of these What he won't discuss are the abnormal and extraordinary oddities in his life. That well-developed sixth sense of his that has saved him from more than one hairy (scary) situation. The knowledge that the world isn't as simple as most people like to think. Things do go bump in the night, monsters are real (some of them aren't really so monstrous once you get to know them) and some of those so-called 'fringe' sciences and theories really do pan out. There are times when his "gift" or sixth sense makes him something of an asset--Alex can sense impending trouble or danger, foreboding. It's on the order of psychic ability in that he's capable of reading the vibes in a room, of a person and in a situation. Good vibes, bad vibes...he picks up on it. The next best thing to actually being able to "see" the future. (If this is good or bad is really debatable but Alex tries to look at it as a positive thing.) He doesn't have a name for his gift, the ability to sense impending danger and ill-intent. What he does know is that it was given to him for some purpose and that he feels obligated to use the extra advantage to not only protect himself but those around him. That heads up, a warning, a split second of realization that the shit is going to hit the fan--sometimes it makes all the difference to the outcome of a situation. It also leaves him very open-minded and accepting of things other in the world. The bigger and broader picture where there is more than good and evil to choose from, it's a muddled mess of something in between and Alex tries to navigate as best he can. We're surrounded by a billion galaxies... (people he knows) *'NameHere' Relationship description here. (in game plot points) * I can't get out of this, I'm caught Tarik Ündüz and his amazing hair belong to himself, I would presume. Alex Atalay belongs to me as he is a fictional creation and in no way real. The me in question is Hinkydoodle, I bite so I'd think twice about accusing me of doing this for anything other than fun and personal entertainment. Imogene Heap lyrics are being used and abused based on my many whims. I don't own those particular pretty words appearing in italics or in section headers. Category:Living